Addiator: Short introduction about a calculator from the 60s

[gmax137]

Nomograms were a favorite of engineers, see for example the Crane 410 fluid flow book. Fast, and as accurate as necessary / appropriate.

I have a little booklet, "how to construct nomograms," picked up used somewhere. I have to admit never actually making any.

 

[ali PMPAINT]

That skill is a must-have in my elementary school. You can't finish math tests in timethus can't graduate if you can't multiply two 4 digit numbers in 3 seconds. Not sure what it is like in US.

ps: No time for checking with calculators.

What?! In my country(maybe just my city), some high school students don't even know how to multiply two numbers by hand(They are very bad at mathematics), but they pass anyway...

 

[YoungPhysicist]

What?! In my country(maybe just my city), some high school students don't even know how to multiply two numbers by hand(They are very bad at mathematics), but they pass anyway...

That’s the case for Taiwanese elementary schools besides the one I go to.

There were also independent soroban classes in my elementary school. The problems are even harder(8digits divided by 5 dits in 4 secs) because the teachers said we have a calculator, which is just as ridiculous as it sounds.

 

[ali PMPAINT]

That’s the case for Taiwanese elementary schools besides the one I go to.

There were also independent soroban classes in my elementary school. The problems are even harder(8digits divided by 5 dits in 4 secs) because the teachers said we have a calculator, which is just as ridiculous as it sounds.

What?! How do students pass anyway? Is there a technique which one can use, or should they practice so much so that they can do it? Do they take it seriously?(Our school doesn't take anything serious lol)

 

[Nik_2213]

My child-hood paper-skills of long multiplication and division have endured despite log tables, slide-rules, scientific calculators etc etc...
And, yes, I was taught to 'add up', per the idiom, as that let you check 'take-aways'...

I loved wrangling quadratic equations, either by clever factorisation, or invoking the 'minus b plus or minus the square root of...' formula.
Sadly, though I could literally taste the power and beauty of full-on calculus, I could not get past basic integrations and differentials. Sorta 'glass ceiling'. I did keep trying, attested by my collection of math books dated a decade or so apart...